CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Christopher Aki in court on the first day of his trial.
Aki defense implicates
uncle in murder
Eleven-year-old Kahealani Indreginal was still alive when Christopher Aki left her badly beaten body at the Aiea Loop Trail over a year ago after assaulting her with a pipe at least 20 times, say city prosecutors.
CORRECTION
Thursday, April 15, 2003>> Christopher Aki is accused of causing the death of 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal on Dec. 10, 2002. A story on Page A1 in yesterday's early edition incorrectly listed the date as Dec. 11, 2002.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.And she probably would have lived had he sought help for her, but he didn't because he was afraid he wouldn't see his girlfriend and family again, Christopher Aki told police, prosecutors said.
Aki, who has said he loved Indreginal like a sister, went on trial in Circuit Court yesterday for second-degree murder. He is accused of causing Indreginal's death on Dec. 11, 2002 either by commission or omission -- failing to obtain necessary medical care for her. Indreginal is the younger half-sister of his longtime girlfriend.
Aki's statement implicating himself in the girl's murder was one of several versions that emerged after two separate interviews with police the day her decomposed body was discovered by a photographer and the day after.
Jurors were shown two photos of the girl's body, but not her face, laying on her side in a thicket.
"There was little left of her face," said Prosecutor Peter Carlisle.
Aki initially denied any suggestion that he was with or anywhere near Indreginal the day she disappeared from the Halawa housing complex where she lived. He also denied that he knew what had happened to her or that he had hurt her.
But Carlisle said Aki later confessed to beating and killing Indreginal while suffering from the effects of crystal methamphetamine, which he had smoked the day before. The about-face came after Aki received a message from his mother saying she loved him unconditionally and that the "truth would set him free."
Defense attorneys contend Aki's statements were all lies and that he falsely confessed to killing her because he was threatened at gunpoint not to say anything or else he and his family would die.
"When saying he did it -- only me -- he's giving them a bunch of garbage," deputy public defender Todd Eddins said during opening statements.
But while Aki may have lied repeatedly to police, he did not kill Indreginal, Eddins said.
The truth, the defense contends, is that Indreginal was killed with a knife and bludgeoned with a large rock by her uncle, Dennis Cacatian, a convicted rapist who lived near the Aiea park, Eddins said.
Cacatian, who is to begin serving 34 months in federal prison on May 11 for possessing illegal rifle magazines, has refused to respond to the allegations and has not been charged in Indreginal's murder.
Aki contends he arranged to meet Cacatian on Dec. 11 at the Aiea Loop Trail after Indreginal disclosed to him the day before that her uncle had been touching her inappropriately.
Cacatian was allegedly waiting at the park and smoking "ice" with an unidentified man when Aki and Indreginal arrived. Cacatian became irate after Aki confronted him and turned on Indreginal, ordering her out of the car, Eddins said.
Cacatian and Indreginal disappeared down a trail. After they had been gone for a few minutes, Aki went looking for them and spotted Cacatian at the bottom of a slope with Indreginal nearby on the ground, Eddins said.
Cacatian allegedly ordered Aki to "get down here and help me," so Aki and the other man did so.
When Aki got closer to Indreginal, he saw she had blood all over her neck and Cacatian holding a knife, Eddins said.
"Chris starts gagging. He's ordered to move the body. He doesn't wanna touch her" and collapses, Eddins said. Aki is ordered to go back up the trail, Eddins said.
Meanwhile, Cacatian returned to his van in the parking lot to retrieve a pipe-like object and ordered Aki to keep a lookout for anyone coming, Eddins said.
When Aki allegedly went back down the trail, it appeared that the two were moving the girl with the pipe and pushing her into a thicket, Eddins said.
Later, Cacatian returned with a heavy rock, Eddins said, adding, "She was repeatedly hit with the boulder -- that's how her head was caved in -- she was hit by her uncle."
The rock, which was not recovered by police, was later found by investigators for the Public Defender's Office days later "a mere feet" from where Indreginal's body was found, Eddins said. Blood found on the rock was analyzed and matched Indreginal's.
According to autopsy reports, Indreginal suffered numerous injuries including a fractured skull and palate, stab and puncture wounds from an assault.
The trial was to begin March 30 but was postponed for two weeks to allow prosecutors to test blood found on a watch belonging to Aki that was recovered inside his car.
Eddins said the analyses of the blood samples recovered were from two males, one of them Aki, but he was not the primary contributor.
The defense had hoped the primary contributor of the blood sample was Cacatian, but "It turns out it wasn't the uncle's (blood)," Eddins said.
